Takari Cross Country Pt 4
by Dr-Doctor1992
Summary: Stranded in Colorado, TK & Kari embark on a road trip back to New York so they could return to Japan.


A/N: Right firstly, this is a continuation of someone else's fiction. The first two chapters were written by takari-critic2001 which was unfinished and then Cellos-Topazbot attempted to continue it but sadly, he only wrote the third chapter. 10 years later… I stumbled on their fic and decided to continue it WITHOUT asking them. And do you want to know why I'm doing this? I just find the thought of a disjointed fic written by 3 different authors in a span of 15 years funny.

I know nothing about America and I don't care. The Japanese portrayal of other countries were crappy anyway.

All previous chapters are on fanfiction and can be found by googling it.

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In other news… I've finished the early draft of chapter 3 of Summer Camp and it's in the process of being edited. Chapter 2 of Bodmin Manor is in the middle of being drafted so it'll be a while before it gets posted and as for this fic... it's getting written in one take to save time. :P

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

When Willis came back, he was shocked to find the pizzas were burnt. Add to that horror, most of the kitchen were covered in white flour. "What happened!?" He gasped.

"We're truly sorry for this." Kari said. Her best friend was rubbing the back of his head with one of his hand. "We'll clean up right now." TK said.

"And we've paid for the pizzas which we'll come in..."

A doorbell interrupted Kari's speech.

"..now!" Kari ran up to the door, avoiding eye contact with Willis.

As expected, she was greeted by the pizza man at the door. "That will be 35 dollars and 49 cents."

"I've already paid with a card."

"Ah you have? I was just testing you." The pizza man have her the food and winked before going off.

She shut the door and turned around to find Willis blocking the way.

"Erm… here you go."

Willis was frowning.

"That was your money to get back to New York wasn't it?"

Kari directed her gaze to the wall. "It wouldn't be enough anyway."

Not wanting to seem intimidating Willis let off a smile and touched her shoulder. "I've heard from the others that Mimi and her friend might come to pick you guys up.

Kari looked to Willis with her face lighten up slightly. "Really?"

He nodded. "It's not confirmed yet but… yeah."

* * *

It turned out Mimi managed to get another week off from work and her friend Michael negotiated his too to drive from New York to Colorado. Their journey to Willis' home took three days. By that time, Davis, Yolei, and Cody and the others had already left the country with their return ticket via an airport in Denver.

"We'll stay in touch right?"

TK and Kari both nodded to Davis before he joined with the others in the airport. When he disappeared into the crowd, the two kids blocked him again on all of their handheld devices.

From now on they could spend the rest of their holidays together free of distraction. That was what TK thought.

When Mimi and Michael had arrived to the household, the two kids had their handfuls of baggage outside, waiting to be transported.

"My, you've got a lot of stuff." Mimi remarked.

"Not really considering the time we've spent here." Kari replied.

"Please come in for drinks and stuff. Michael, who had been the driver in all three days took the offer. They were supposed to alternate but Mimi kept having headaches and twinges everyn ow and then.

"So Willis what'll you be doing once we're gone?" Mimi asked while sipping her coffee.

"I'll probably have a week's detention and butt-loads of catch-up homework to do. Hey, can I ask why we couldn't buy Kari and TK a ticket in the airport here.

"Because…" Mimi grabbed something out of her bag, "We bought two tickets to Japan for the price of one!"

TK and Kari were handed their tickets. They were amazed to find that both of their tickets together cost $199.64!

But the downside was they would be stopping at London, Paris, Copenhagen, Hamad, Hong Kong, and then finally Tokyo.

Altogether, the journey would take 61 hours!

"Erm.." Kari didn't know what to say. She felt she should be grateful to have friends who would pay for your airline tickets, and drive you across the country to get there.

"Thanks. I promise I'll repay it all back. The ticket, the car gas, this coffee." TK said. "Me too." The brown-headed girl nodded in agreement.

Michael looked at his watch and then began to down all of his coffee. "We better get going. Your flight is in 4 days time and we barely made it here in 3."

"Right!" Mimi enthusiastically stood up from her seat along with the others. Michael came beside her to whisper something. "Hey can you drive for a mile or two? My toe is kind of sore from all the driving. "Hmmm…." Suddenly she fell onto her knees.

"What is it?" Michael asked with genuine concern on his face. "I.. I think I drank too much coffee." Mimi was clutching her stomach with both her hands. "Okay I'll drive to the next state and see how you'll feel by then."

Once again Michael took the driver's seat while Mimi took the other at the front. She looked behind and was a bit disappointed that TK and Kari were separated by Willis in the middle.

TK had to ask him again. "Are you sure you want to take the middle seat? I don't mind sitting there for the whole journey."

Willis shook his head. "I'm fine, thanks." TK was a bit down to hear that but he was shortly saved by Mimi.

"C'mon take the end seat. TK has Kari to lean on."

TK blushed at the bluntness of Mimi and immediately he withdrew his offer. "Willis seems happy to be in the middle. Don't worry." He felt a moment of relief when Mimi stayes ilent and turned her head back to the front window. But regret soon took over and he repeatedly kicked himself for being a coward.

Michael turned the engine on and the old car rumbled beofer it went silent. He had to ignite it four more times before the old thing started again. Loud banging noise came form the engine and for a moment, black fumes were emitted from the exhaust.

"Is everyone ready- hey did we forget Gatomon and Patamon?" Mimi asked.

"Checkmate!" A muffled voice came from the boot.

"Yep." Kari answered and before long the car started moving.

For three hours, Michael had been driving non-stop. TK wondered how on earth he could keep that up, especially when he had already spent most of the daytime driving to Willis' house. The sky was turning darker and Kari and Willis had fallen into a nap.

TK laid his head against the vibrating door window. He could have laid his head on Kari's shoulder by now if he didn't chicken out. He turned his head and saw Willis dozing in and out of sleep as he laid his head backwards on that middle spot where there was no head rest nor a glass window to lean on. It would have made more sense for him to take TK's seat. He would ask him again in the next rest spot.

* * *

"TK, wake up."

He was shaken lightly by a hand with a good scent. _Ah Kari, don't ever change your hand cream._ He opened his eyes to the face he was expecting to see. Alluring red/brown eyes, attractive bangs, and cheeks that begs to be rubbed… by lips.

"We're having dinner now." She told him. He slowly unclipped his seatbelt and got off the already opened the door that Kari was standing in.

They were at a diner called Uncle Bob's Farmhouse. The five kids looked at the menu which mianly consisted of pie dishes.

TK and Kari were a bit shocked to see the sizes of those things around them. "Look at that one." He whispered to Kari next to him. They glanced at an incredibly obese man devouring a steak pie that was as large as a basketball. He was holding it with one of his fat hands and he either didn't care or notice that brown gravy was dripping down to his shirt and trousers.

"Check out that guy!" Kari nudged TK.

They turned their attention to another obese man who was eating some sort pie sandwich. The filling was probably a mixture of several meats enclosed with puff pastry and deep fried, crispy bread.

"How about we get something to share?" TK suggested and she nodded.

In the end they decided to pick something from the children's section.

"I'd like to have Chippy's Chicken and Jolly Clown Pie Mix please."

The waitress stared at Kari as if she was alien. "And what do you want sir?"

"I'll be sharing with her thanks."

The waitress gave TK the same stare before she went off to the kitchen.

"What the hell did you order?" Mimi asked.

"I dunno you tell me."

Mimi shrugged. "I've never been here before."

During the wait for food, TK noticed Willis had been massaging his temples and neck. "Are you alright?" Tk asked him.

"Yeah I must have slept badly." He said, while rubbing the back of his neck and head."

"I'll give you a head message." Mimi almost shouted to the embarrassment of Willis. He always felt that massages are for old people and young people like him doesn't deserve one.

"Nah I'm fine thanks."

"No you are not fine. Here." There was no stopping Mimi. She got up behind Willis' seat and rubbed his head firmly. It was actually pretty nice and Willis soon forgot about his perception of massages.

Michael watched and grumbled something. "What was that?" Mimi asked but Michael brushed it off with a hand motion.

TK suppressed his usual smile just in case it would come off as inappropriate and asked him about the seats more confidently.

"You wanna swap seats with me?"

"Huh?" He was slightly delirious from the hard massage. "Now?"

"No! I mean... in the car."

"Oh.. yeah sure."

TK wasn't sure whether he registered the conversation in his head in his dream-like state at the moment but he wqs satisfied nonetheless.

* * *

After some more waiting, Mimi, Michael, and Willis got their food first. Both TK and Kari were shocked to find their friends eating such huge portions. How could they keep themselves from being fat?

Finally, TK and Kari's dish came but it wasn't delivered by the waitress. An old clown with a strong tobacco scent placed down the dish. "Here ya go." He said in a low, gravelling voice before quickly walking off while taking off his green wig, revealing a balding man with patches of grey here and there.

The two teenagers waved their hands over the plate to blow away the cigarette smell completely. The so-called children's dish was a chicken pie about the size of Kari's head. It was a good thing they ordered one dish to share but they were only given one plate and one set of fork and knife.

"Excuse me miss?" TK called to the same waitress who had been serving them.

"Yes?"

"Do you have another plate and fork and knives?"

She just nodded and headed to the kitchen.

"You'll eat first." He said to Kari.

"No no we'll together."

The waitress came back with her hands bare. "Sorry. We just ran out."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah an intern knocked them all out this morning. Sorry." She walked off before TK was about to ask her more.

TK looked at the others and they all shrugged. Mimi nearly gave off a smirk. "I.. I guess we're sharing the fork and knife." Kari said nervously. "Y-yeah. We'll t-take turns."

Because the plate was at Kari's spot, she took the first bite with her fork. She then pushed the plate to the middle and handed the fork and knife to TK.

With his hands slightly trembling he cut off a piece off the pie. In a few moments he was going to consume Kari's spit.

 _Here goes._ He hummed a mouthful of pie in his mouth. The pie was actually pretty good. The chicken was freshly sweet, and the sauce had various herbs filling up the senses.

He handed the fork and knife back to Kari. She too was a bit nervous. She shakily cut off a piece and braced herself. This was probably the closest she will get with TK and the only chance. She placed the fork in her mouth and tasted the sweetness in her tongue.

Watching from across the table, Mimi was covering her mouth trying not to laugh especially with food in her mouth.

* * *

So after their evening dinner, they were back on the road. Michael was going to drive for another 3 hours which got the concern of TK and Kari.

"Do you think we should call it a day?" Kari asked.

"Nah I'm fine." The blond American wearily responded. He had barely said a word today. Come to think of it, he and Mimi had barely been seen interacting with each other.

"You can sleep now if you want." Michael said.

"Nah I'm fine."

Kari didn't know how tired she was and she just simply laid her head against the window to rest her eyes for a bit. TK yawned and decided to call it a day. "Can I lean on you?" He whispered to the girl. She nodded with her eyes closed.

The boy leant his head against her shoulder and quickly fell asleep. A little smirk appeared on her face and before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep.

Mimi and Willis had been sleeping too and the only waking person left was Michael… thus far.

His weary eyes had been blinking more often and no matter how much breath he had drawn from yawning, it didn't feel enough. He would have liked to turn the music on louder but that might wake the others. He had also considered opening the window but he didn't want to discomfort his acquaintances with the chilly air. The temperature in the car was nice and warm. Perfect for a nap.

He thought resting his head and back against the seat would help him conserve energy for keeping himself awake but soon without himself realising, his eyes had automatically closed.

* * *

A/N: I had fun. If you don't see the next chapter posted in the next 12 months, feel free to carry it on.


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